NXT TakeOver: Respect takes place tonight at Full Sail University at 8:00 pm EST. The main event will feature NXT Women’s champion Bayley defending her title against previous champion Sasha Banks in a 30 minute iron man match. Meanwhile, we’ll also see the conclusion of the Dustry Rhodes Tag Team Classic, with semifinals on the show being Finn Balor and Samoa Joe taking on Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable against Baron Corbin and Rhyno, and the finals featuring the winners of both semifinals. Asuka will make her in-ring NXT debut taking on Dana Brooke, and Apollo Crews will face off against Tyler Breeze.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show so send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
*****
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: NXT CHAMPION FINN BALOR & SAMOA JOE VS. DASH WILDER & SCOTT DAWSON
Joe & Balor won and advanced in a well-worked match. Joe got the hot tag and set up Wilder for the Muscle Buster. Balor told Joe he wanted to tag in and Joe hit the Muscle Buster, and then Balor used the Coup De Grace on Wilder for the pin. Most of the match saw The Mechanics work over Balor’s knee which he sold after hitting his finisher. Joe & Balor go to the finals with a hint of issues between them and Balor “injured”.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: JASON JORDAN & CHAD GABLE VS. BARON CORBIN & RHYNO
Rhyno & Corbin advanced when Rhyno hit the gore on Jordan, and Corbin pinned Gable after the End of Days The crowd just loves Gable. He’s got something really special. Jordan & Gable are such a great babyface team that they really made the match, which had super heat, and overcame the fact that Corbin is, at best, passable at this point. There were all kinds of funny chants like “Save the Gable” and the crowd singing Kurt Angle’s music and chanting “Gable” where people used to sing “You Suck”. Jordan has all the ability in the world and has finally started to come out of his shell in this team.
They showed Kevin Nash in the crowd.
ASUKA VS. DANA BROOKE
As a wrestler, Asuka is a level above every woman wrestler in WWE. She looked super here with all her submissions, ring confidence, and total superstar presence. Brooke held her own and didn’t look out of place given this level of competition. The crowd was actually a lot hotter for this than the two tag matches. Asuka did an absolutely sweet flying armbar near the finish. She ended up winning with the Asuka Lock — a chicken wing crossface with a body scissors. After the match, Asuka laid out Brooke with a high kick and then stared down Emma who turned her head like she was backing down. Excellent debut.
We got the same Nia Jax promo we’ve been seeing recently. She’s debuting next week.
APOLLO CREWS VS. TYLER BREEZE
This was another good match that was built around Breeze working over Crews’ back. Breeze really looked good here. He got a great near fall as Crews did the press slam, went for the standing moonsault, but Breeze hooked the leg. Crews then broke free and went for the standing moonsault again, but Breeze got his knees up. Crews came back after absorbing two running elbows from Breeze, charging out at the third attempt and hitting a running kick. He then hit an atomic drop into a power bomb for the pin. They tried to tell the story that Crews is showing how much guts he has as he sold most of the way.
They showed HIdeo Itami and Funaki in the stands.
They are doing a show-long story as to whether Balor will be able to come out for the finals due to his knee.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FINALS: SAMOA JOE & FINN BALOR VS. BARON CORBIN & RHYNO
No angle, but a solid match and the crowd was pretty hot. At one point, Rhyno hit the Gore on Joe, but Balor saved. He went for a second one but Joe kicked him in the face, gave him a Muscle Buster, and Balor used a double foot stomp on Rhyno for the pin.
Cody, Dustin, Michelle (Dusty’s wife) and his two daughters were all in the ring as well as Eden Stiles. Cody did a promo and talked about how Dusty died on the same day as John Wayne but 36 years later. Cody talked about how Dusty was referred to as “the oak of NXT” but to him, he was known as Dad. “Tonight, we are all Rhodes,” he said. They played Rhodes’ music and fans chanted “Thank you Dusty.”
They showed Stephanie McMahon, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Lita at ringside. Stephanie even chanted “women’s wrestling” along with the crowd.
30-MINUTE IRONMAN MATCH: NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPION BAYLEY VS. SASHA BANKS
Baley retained the title with a 3-2 margin by using a Fujiwara armbar at 29:57 to break the tie.
Banks won the first fall with an eye poke and schoolgirl using the trunks, Bayley won the second fall with the Belly To Bayley, while the third fall saw Banks win by ramming Bayley into the LED board, causing Bayley to be counted out. The fourth fall saw Bayley use a roll-up out of nowhere. The last few minutes were really dramatic as Banks used the Bank Statement, but because Bayley had worked over her hand during the match, she didn’t have full power. Bayley tried to reverse out once, failed, but then reversed into the armbar and was stomping on Banks’ head. The tap came right before time ran out.
It was pretty much what it should have been as far as a really good, well built match. Banks was great here, and Bayley was super over with the crowd so you had a great face/heel dynamic. Izzy at ringside was the other star of this match. They couldn’t create someone that good as her at ringside.
After the match, they sent everyone on the roster out on the stage to give a round of applause. HHH and Wlliam Regal gave Banks flowers as the fans chanted “Thank you Sasha” as Stephanie and Sara Amato congratulated her with Bayley cheering for her from the ring. HHH then went into the ring and gave Bayley flowers. They did a good job of making this feel special with the post-match.
This really felt very close to, from an post-match atmosphere and setting, like a G-1 final or Arena Mexico Anniversary match.
The New Day came out. They showed the ending of Raw and talk about how they’ve destroyed everyone, Cena, Ziggler and the Dudleys. Ziggler came out and said that they cost him his shot at the U.S. title. He challenged Big E. The Dudleys then came out as well and say they’ll make sure the match is fair.
Big E beat Bubba Ray Dudley due to help from Kofi Kingston.
The Wyatt family did a promo talking about the Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns Hell in a Cell match.
King Barrett beat Neville.
Stardust came out and cut a promo on Neville, so their program is continuing.
Randy Orton & Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman via DQ when Wyatt used a foreign object. The New Day attacked Reigns after the match and The Dudleys made the save, with the segment ending with the Dudleys putting Woods through a table.
The Big Takeaway: Seth Rollins will officially face Kane at Hell in a Cell. Summer Rae asked Rusev to marry him. Rusev said he would, but only until he captures a championship. John Cena was accidentally superkicked by Dolph Ziggler following the main event, which teased a program between the two. Stephanie McMahon shouted down The New Day. Stephanie McMahon shouted down Kane. Stephanie McMahon shouted down Rollins. Twice. To keep the storyline cohesive, HHH later offered support to Rollins.
Show Recap:
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman starts the show. Heyman put over Lesnar’s victory over the Big Show to start the Go to Hell Tour, and now it’s time to focus on the Undertaker. Heyman said the Undertaker considers Hell in a Cell to be the Devil’s Playground, but Lesnar considers it the Lair of the Beast. They replaced highlights from Wrestlemania 31, which got a mixed reaction. Heyman said Undertaker realized at SummerSlam that he wasn’t Dead Man enough to get revenge on Lesnar, then replayed the controversial finish from SummerSlam.
Heyman promoted Lesnar being on Steve Austin’s podcast later this month, and vowed this would be Lesnar’s last match against the Undertaker. The winner would be the winner of history between Lesnar-Undertaker, and the loser wouldn’t walk out at all.
Big Show came out and said he was very close to beating Lesnar. Show extended his hand to Lesnar to shake it, but Lesnar snubbed him and walked out of the ring. Show said it must be nice being as arrogant as he is, but he hopes he loses to the Undertaker again.
Lesnar took exception to that and got back in the ring, and gave Show a belly-to-belly suplex. Then he got Show up for the F-5 and smiled like it was the 2004 version of Lesnar, acting like the world’s biggest Bob Backland knockoff.
Seth Rollins and Stephanie McMahon watched this scene. Rollins was mad because Show was supposed to tag with him later in the show against the Dudley Boyz. Now that Show was laid out by Lesnar, Rollins figured he wouldn’t be available for the match tonight. Rollins asked for Stephanie to cancel the match. Stephanie told him she wouldn’t do any such thing and to figure out the problem for himself. He looked like he was ready to deck her and walked off.
Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman (15:53)
Roman Reigns got the hot tag and gave Luke Harper a power bomb. Randy Orton hit Harper with the RKO, and Regins followed with the spear for the pin. Real good match with Orton being the most over performer. Bruan Strowman got the monster heel treatment again. As Dean Ambrose tried a pescado, Strowman caught him and slammed him on the floor. This led to JBL comparing him to Jeep Swenson and Bill Kazmaier. I can’t wait to see Strowman joining eight other guys to face John Cena and Orton in a triple deck cage match in 10 years.
Sheamus defeated Neville (:32)
King Barett was on commentary. Sheamus ran down the Boston Celtics mascot, saying if they wanted a real leprechaun mascot, they should have used him. Did they have a character who was a leprechaun for years? Sheamus ran down Neville saying he would always be a loser. Neville attacked him with punches. Barrett got up and argued with Neville, allowing Sheamus to hit the Brogue Kick with the pin. Neville didn’t even get a ring entrance and jobbed in 32 seconds.
Director of Operations Kane limped into the building. He was in the ring after a commercial and said Rollins got slightly out of control last week. Kane announced himself as Rollins tag team partner tonight against the Dudley Boyz. This brought out Rollins, who said Kane was no Tom Brady, even though they both have deflated balls.
Rollins said Kane couldn’t lie, cheat and swindle his way to whatever he wants, implying Brady and the Patriots did that, as well. Kane said his goal was to bring out the best in Rollins, who said the championship brings out the best in him. Kane said Rollins had to face his demons and walk through hell in order to bring out the best in himself.
Stephanie came out for the monthy evisceration of talent. She was a complete babyface running down Rollins for making fun of Brady, saying he would lead the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl again this year. That got a huge pop and it was a striaght babyface move. Then she announced the Demon Kane would face Rollins at Hell in a Cell, and added that Corporate Kane could team with Rollins tonight. She also announced that if Demon Kane doesn’t beat Rollins at Hell in a Cell, then Corporate Kane would be relieved of his duties.
Rollins pleaded his case with HHH about teaming with Kane tonight. HHH reminded him of the saying “Do unto other before they can do unto you.” So HHH was the heel here. I feel like Johny Hendricks trying to cut weight trying to make sense of the Authority.
Natalya defeated Paige via submission (6:03)
Natalya got the tapout victory with the Sharpshooter, the second time she used that hold. Paige was a rogue heel, which didn’t have much of a reaction.
Ryback did a taped promo that was heavily scripted on Kevin Owens. At least it didn’t look he was reading a teleprompter.
Kevin Owens defeated Sin Cara (2:35)
Owens won with the Pop Up Power Bomb. Talk about a random match. Owens jumped Kalisto, but Ryback ran out after Owens, who left through the crowd.
Stephanie was checking her iPhone when the New Day walked up chanting “Steph-un-Nee.” Xavier Woods started to play his trombone, but without even looking, Stephanie told Woods that if he played one note on that trombone, she would send the New Day to a place worse than Suplex City. Would that be WWE headquarters on Tuesday afternoons? She forced New Day into another tag title match with the Dudleys at HIAC. Stephanie has scolded the World Champion, the Director of Operations and the Tag Team Champions and we weren’t even 90 minutes into the show.
The entire WWE roster came out on the ramp. Cena and Reigns were in the ring with breast cancer survivors for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. They got a standing ovation as the nine women rose their arms together. Reigns did prepared remarks promoting a t-shirt called “Rise About Cancer” The fact Reigns was out there shows he’s still slated as the number two babyface in the company. CM Punk, Paul Lazenby, Lance Storm and others have been vocal on Twitter about breast cancer funds going to other foundations aside from the Koman Foundation, to the point where it’s too complicated to get into here. I would check their Twitter feeds for more information.
The Dudleys defeated Seth Rollins and Corportate Kane by DQ (13:23)
The storyline was Kane has an injured right ankle so he wasn’t 100%, which forced Rollins to practically wrestle the match himself. The doctor told Kane he would have to go to the back. Just as he did on Smackdown last week, Rollins handcuffed Kane to the ringpost so he wouldn’t leave and turned into Demonic Kane. Then Rollins was thrown into Kane by Devon Dudley, and Kane broke free from the handcuffs. Kane left with the doctor. As he went to the back, Kane smiled at Rollins like it was all a ruse. That left Rollins alone against the Dudleys. When the Dudleys left to get the tables, Rollins dropkicked the table into both Dudleys. That led to the DQ, a finish the crowd booed.
Rollins went to leave, but Demonic Kane came out. Kane gave Rollins a big boot, but the Dudleys went back in the ring and gave Kane a 3-D.
The Dudleys left. Rollins set up a table in the ring while Kane appeared to be laid out. But as Rollins talked trash, Kane grabbed him by the throat. Rollins kicked him away and came off the top rope, but Kane caught him and gave him a choke slam through the table. Not much of a reaction for Demonic Kane until the table spot.
In footage from earlier today, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Alicia Fox were shown leaving a limosuine. At the same time, Naomi, Tamina and Sasha Banks got out of another limosuine. Naomi threw Nikki’s Yankees baseball cap away and laughed. This set up a trios match.
Banks did a prematch in-ring interview since they were back in her hometown, saying she put the Boss in Boston. Team Bella interrupted her, with Nikki running down the Boston Red Sox. Nikki and Brie traded barbs.
Team BAD defeated Team Bella via submission (11:46)
Banks got Fox to tap out with the Bank Statement in a match that dragged. Good final two minutes leading to the finish. Crowd was lively for Banks. They’re still tossing around the Divas Revolution hashtag like it’s still a thing. At this point, the Miami Dolphins would have better luck launching #TannerhillRevolution.
Charlotte did a promo saying the Divas Championship would remain around her waist after her match with Nikki Bella at Hell in a Cell. She and Becky Lynch slapped hands.
Summer Rae saying she heard rumors Summer was over. If she paid any attention to the crowd, she would understand that isn’t true. She introduced Rusev. Summer wanted to dedicate the segment to Rusev, who she claimed has done more than any other superstar on the roster. There was a montage of Summer calling Rusev gentle and friendly as replays of him slamming Dolph Ziggler and Fandango were shown.
Rusev said when they first started their relationship, he didn’t like her at all. But now that she’s been under his arm, he can’t imagine anyone caring more than her. Summer said there’s been something she’s been meaning to ask him. She dropped to a knee and pulled out a ring under her blouse. She asked him to marry her. Ruseve looked speechless. Summer, who called Rusev “Ru-Ru,” said they could go straight to the top together. Rusev finally said yes and they hugged. Summer looked overjoyed. However, after that embraced, Rusev said “Yes, but not yet.” Rusev said they must prove to each other that they’re worthy. He wanted WWE gold around his waist before she could have gold around her finger. Summer looked confused and angry as Rusev held the ropes for her to leave.
Cena came out and wanted the challenger for the U.S. Open Challenge. Ziggler’s music played. However, the New Day showed up with a beaten up Ziggler in their arms. Woods reminded Cena of his warning to New Day last week that they better get serious and asked if this was serious enough for him? Big E. took the challenge. Loved the idea of New Day becoming more serious heels.
John Cena (C) defeated Big E. to retain the U.S. Championship (9:54)
Cena won with the AA after Big E. tried to hit Cena with Woods’ trombone. Moments earlier, Cena lifted Big E. for the AA, but Kofi Kingston and Woods helped Big E. escape, leading to referee Charles Robinson ordering them to the back. During a commercial, Big E. delivered an overhead belly-to-belly suplex where Cena landed on the back of his head.
Postmatch, the New Day attacked Cena until Ziggler came out for the save. Ziggler tried to give Woods a superkick, but instead he accidentally kicked Cena. The Dudleys ran out, but the New Day outnumbered them. Kingston gave Devon the Trouble in Paradise. Then they gave Devon the Midnight Hour. This was done to make New Day more aggressive heels.
SUMMARY: Another cold show, even with Lesnar in the opening segment. With Cena taking a leave of absence in a month, it’s a major period of rebuilding ahead. The question is can they stop booking for ego and start booking for drawing money? The top two heel acts were berated by the boss’ daughter tonight. Reigns doesn’t feel like he’s hot enough to carry this show. However long Cena’s departure will be, it may be similar to when Bret Hart departed for WCW after the Montreal Screwjob in 1997. It’s hard to believe now, but Bret left behind a company with very little depth and only Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin as true stars. With the company at its breaking point, the WWE responded by making more stars than at any point in its history. Really, Cena is leaving behind a roster that’s even more thin than it was 18 years ago, but the paradigm has changed. However, the company’s mission shouldn’t be any different now than it was back then.
Pre-Show notes:
Only the very top of TD Garden is taped off
Cesaro comes out to a big cheer. Adam Rose is out to boos. Adam Rose says this must be the lowest point of his career. And by lowest point I mean he literally says “Wrestling Adam Rose on Superstars”. Way to out yourself over Adam.
Cesaro swings Adam Rose 36 times, and submits him with the Sharpshooter.
PTP vs Ascension
PTP get on offense early, but Darren eventually gets isolated gets the face in peril heat. Tides makes the hot tag and wins after a powerbomb
Cesaro Defeated the Miz. – Match took a while to begin with the Miz jumping out of the ring for 5 minutes or so. Miz took a few moves very awkwardly and didnt make Cesaro look all that good. Cesaro eventually hit the neutralizer for the win.
Fandango defeated Heath Slater. Would have been a bathroom break if not for wanting to see Maine’s own Fandango. Slater kept stalling to start, as soon as he jumped in the ring he tripped on the top rope and fandango pinned him, took a nice round of applause from the audience and left. No match really.
Braun Strowman defeated Jack Swagger with his choke out submission. Pretty good match they actually let Swagger get in some offense on Strowman who up until now has been booked as a superman.
Lucha Dragons defeated Ascension and Los Matadores in a triple threat tag match. Fun match, lots of action. Just nothing too great here.
Natalya defeated Sasha Banks with the Sharp Shooter. Portland loved both girls. Great reactions.
R – Truth defeated Adam Rose. Rose actually got a lot of cheers for his new gimmick. He was rather funny and challenged Truth to a dance contest that ended when truth kicked Rose for the victory.
Dean Ambrose Defeated Luke Harper, Good lengthy match. Ambrose looked great.
Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt in a NO DQ Match. Good reaction for both men. Funny at house shows how different the reaction is for reigns. Strowman interrupted and then Ambrose came out for the save. Match ended with Reigns putting Wyatt through a table with a power bomb and win.
Overall, decent house show but the attendance is definitely something that couldn’t be ignored.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) def. The Dudley Boyz in a title match. Xavier got 3D’d through a table after the match.
– WWE I-C Champion Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler and Rusev in a title match
– Randy Orton def. Sheamus
– Mark Henry def. Bo Dallas. Big Show KO punched Bo after the match
– Team PCB def. Team Bella. Paige walked out on her partners near the end of the match.
– WWE U.S. Champion John Cena def. WWE World Champion Seth Rollins in a U.S. title match/street fight. Corporate Kane made the match a Worcester Street Fight. The Demon Kane appeared at the end of the match to prevent Rollins from fleeing.
Submitted by Jon Alba, Sports Anchor for ABC7/Fox22
Cesaro vs. Miz
Cesaro and Miz kicked us off with Miz doing a schtick about not wanting to take his sunglasses off until the crowd shut up, delaying the match about 3-4 minutes. Cesaro even went and sat in the crowd waiting for Miz to take the sunglasses off. Eventually did, and they put on a decent starting match with them teasing the swing a few times. Cesaro got his hands on Miz’s glasses and wrestled with them on for a little bit, and ended up hitting the swing into the Neutralizer for the win. 8-10 minutes or so.
Heath Slater vs. Fandango
Heath Slater came out and Fandango followed him. Fandango wins with a quick roll-up about two minutes into the match, if that. Slater left in shock not believing he lost that quickly. Crowd didn’t care much for this.
Jack Swagger vs. Braun Strowman
Swagger was out next, and the lights went dark and Braun Strowman appeared in the ring. This one went about 3.5-4 minutes, with Strowman passing Swagger out. He did not hit his slam, instead going right to the sleeper.
Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores vs. The Ascension in a triple-threat tag match
The Ascension actually got a decent response from the locals, but Lucha Dragons were most over. OK match, with almost all the action centered around Lucha Dragons, and more specifically, Kalisto. The Matadores kept teasing El Torito wasn’t there and were egging on the crowd about it, because they apparently don’t like him anymore. Eventually, “Bad to the Bone” hit over the loudspeakers, and Torito came out to a big pop. He distracted the Matadores, and Kalisto picked up the pinfall win after his finisher over one of them. Crowd was into the finish, but match was really long (probably 11 minutes or longer). People are talking about reports of a Matadores getting in a scuffle with a fan, but I did not see such.
Natalya vs. Sasha Banks
Sasha getting a nice response. Natalya may have gotten the biggest pop of the night, and was SUPER over. She even posted about it on her Instagram after the show, seeming to be surprised by how big of a pop she received. They put on a good match, with Sasha playing the chicken-shit heel well. Nattie picked up the win with The Sharpshooter about 7-8 minutes in.
Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper
Good match between the two as expected, went probably about 10 minutes or so. Very physical, lots of false finishes. The two did a flexing showdown in the middle of the match, where they tried to see who had bigger muscles. A little strange for these two. Finish saw Ambrose pick up momentum after turning a superkick into a clothesline off the ropes, and then going off the ropes again and locking Harper in Dirty Deeds. Ambrose was very over as well.
Adam Rose vs. R-Truth
R-Truth came out next doing his thing, but Adam Rose interrupted with the Party Pooper gimmick. He had the most heat of anyone, though it seemed like a lot of the casual fans in the audience didn’t even know who he was until he announced himself as Adam Rose. He and the crowd shouted “You suck” at one another, and he did so in the tune of R-Truth’s theme song. They did a quick little sequence, before Rose rolled out and told Truth he could dance better than him. He started to dance, then R-Truth went to follow, but Rose attacked him as he started. This match went another minute or so, before Truth hit his finisher for the win.
King Barrett vs. Ryback
Ryback and Barrett were out next, with Ryback getting a very big response from the audience as well (kid-friendly). This one went about 6-7 minutes, with Ryback picking up the win after Barrett missed The Bull-hammer. He did hit Wasteland, which Ryback kicked out of. Ryback hits the Meathook and Shell-Shocked for the win.
Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt street fight
Main event was a very physical one between Reigns and Wyatt (No DQ). A few minutes in, they broke out the singapore cane, which at some point in the far corner it seemed (out of my view), Wyatt’s hand got sliced open pretty hard. A lot of dirtsheets used tweets of mine that noted his head got busted open too, but I’m not sure if it was all that bad or if it was just his hand from my angle. His hand was gushing blood, definitely a very deep cut.
They continued the match for a couple minutes, before Reigns went down and they stopped it so doctors could tend to Wyatt. The crowd began booing, and once he got taped up, Wyatt grabbed the microphone and belittled them for booing him while he was getting taped up. Strowman would eventually come out to assist Wyatt, before Ambrose hit the ring making the save. The two of them took out Strowman, before Reigns set up Wyatt for the spear for the win.
All in all, decent show given most of the “A” crew was in NYC. Fans went home happy.
Enzo Amore and Big Cass with Carmella over Chad Gable and Jason Jordan with the rocket launcher. Enzo got in virtually zero offense. Lots of creative ways to prevent Enzo from tagging Cass. Standard hot tag comeback from Cass before pinning Gable.
Elias Sampson comes out with guitar to sing a song for Nashville about how much it sucks.
Bull Dempsey over Elias Sampson via diving seated senton. Long heat segment on Bull that bored the crowd.
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Bayley over Alexa Bliss and Emma after Bayley hits her suplex on Emma and Bliss. Typical heels team up on babyface triple threat until Emma and Bliss turn on eachother. Emma gains control with Bayley on the outside, locks in the Emma Lock on Bliss after a modified Super Dragon style Curbstomp, but Bayley breaks it up and suplexes Emma, who rolls out of the ring, and then hits it on Bliss for the pin.
Samoa Joe over Baron Corbin after Corbin falls into the Coquina Clutch. Fourth match in a row with an extremely long wait for the face to quickly comeback and win. So far this has been a fun but mostly nothing show, as expected.
Apollo Crews over Tye Dillinger. Nothing match. Same pattern as every other one on the show so far. Non-stop babyface in peril spots have officially bored the life out of me. Crowd is still into it, but have come down since the first half of the show for sure.
Eva Marie over Carmella via botch. Drake threw the x immediately after the pin with ringside doctor immediately attending to Carmella. Eva kicked Carmella in the head and it happened so quick I thought I missed how it happened. Drake kept patting the back of his head while looking towards the back. Carmella got up looking okay but shaken.
WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Vaudevillians over the Mechanics after a long and competitive match. Other than the last match which had to break the pattern due to unfortunate circumstances, this is the only real match of the night to feature any real sense of back and forth action. Vaudevillians won with their finish.
WWE NXT Champion Finn Balór over Tyler Breeze. Match of the night. Had a different feel, and Balór carries himself differently than anyone else on the show. A clear and obvious choice for champion and face of the brand. Tons of back and forth offense from both sides. Tyler Breeze did the RVD leg scissors rollup into a single leg Crab in one of the most over moves of the night. A bunch of great near falls, Finn crotch chopping the crowd to riotous applause, and at no point felt like it dragged. Great match, but maybe just in relation to the rest of the show.
Overall a fun show that suffered from feeling too familiar at points. While more fun than the WWE house show I went to a couple weeks ago in Jonesboro, I can’t say it was necessarily better.
The show opened with Kyle Edwards in the WWE Studios to update us on the Dusty Rhodes Classic. This past weekend, Chad Gable & Jason Jordan defeated the Hype Bros to advance to Takeover, where they will face Baron Corbin & Rhyno in the semi-finals. Plus the winners of tonight’s match will face Dash & Dawson at Takeover, with the winners facing off in the championship round.
Dusty Rhodes Classic Quarterfinal: Samoa Joe & Finn Balor defeated Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady
The show starts with the last quarterfinal Match in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic! Finn Balor has a new remixed theme and they also have put “Balor Club” front and center on his Titantron video.
This is such an odd match-up of 4 people you never expected to ever wrestle each other. Colin and Joe brawled outside the ring, so Enzo did a Suicide Dive to Joe and Finn did a plancha over the top on Colin, before facing off with each other. Finn Irish Whipped Enzo into the corner, but ate a boot from Enzo and then a beautiful jumping DDT from the middle rope. That used to be the finisher of The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Iaukea and never looked nearly as good.
Colin gave Joe a Black Hole Slam and had a look on his face like “I can’t believe I did that either.” They did the Rocket Launcher on Joe, but Joe powered out of it and they hit a double team move where Joe used a Muscle Buster on Enzo and Finn came off with a Coup De Grace for the win!
– Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano cut a promo backstage saying they were very disappointed in only getting to the 2nd round of the Classic. They didn’t reach their own expectations, even though they surpassed others expectations. They did promise this was only the beginning. Up walked Tyler Breeze who said any friend of Apollo Crews was an enemy of his and challenged Ciampa to a match tonight, since Crews is facing Gargano.
– An Asuka promo aired. They had footage of her in Japan, which was neat.
Apollo Crews defeated Johnny Gargano
This is the singles match debut for Johnny Gargano and he does so against the former Uhaa Nation. Next week, live on the WWE Network, at NXT Takeover, Crews will go one on one with Prince Pretty, Tyler Breeze.
These two men worked wonderfully together like two people who have wrestled each other before…which they have. It looked rehearsed at times, but it was still a fun little match. Gargano was on the ring apron when Crews went for a running Something Or Other, but Gargano dove through the middle ropes, like a suicide dive into the ring, onto his foe. Gargano followed that up with an Abdominal Stretch where he pulled Crews’ free arm. Crews did his comeback and finished things off with the Gorilla Press Slam and Standing Moonsault.
– William Regal was backstage with Dana Brooke & Emma and he announced Dana will be wrestling Asuka next Wednesdaynight at Takeover.
Dana and Emma laughed, saying Asuka looked like a hyena walking away smiling last week. Mr. Regal showed them a video of Asuka doing something. We didn’t see the video, but we did see Dana and Emma getting wide eyed and quite worried. Before leaving, Emma told Dana good luck.
– Another Nia Jax video aired. 7 weeks running and she is still coming soon. Maybe she went to that Florida promotion that made noise a few years ago and then never ran a show.
– We then saw the video Mr. Regal showed Dana Brooke: Asuka pounding a heavy bag.
Emma and Dana Brooke defeated Billie Kay and Peyton Royce
Kay and Royce were wearing matching gear, so it looks like they will be a new team. Kay and Royce looked good, but this was purely a showcase for Emma and Dana. They did that annoying thing Ascension used to do where they would frantically tag in and out, stomping their opponent in the corner.
Peyton got the hot tag and went wild. She went for a middle rope something, slipped and fell flat on her face. They tried to cover it up by shooting it at a wacky angle, but it was impossible not to notice. They seemed to have no idea what to do for about 30 seconds, but the match finally continued, but ended soon after with a sit out DVD.
– Jason Jordan now wanted to be called JJ and him and Chad Gable were backstage to plug their match next week vs Rhyno & Baron Corbin. Chad and JJ said they are not overcoming the odds, Baron & Rhyno are. Chad said they have won a lot of tournament finals and will be Ready, Willing & Gable.
Dash & Dawson walked up and were offended that Chad & JJ did not think they had a chance against Enzo & Cass. They argued about who lost the 8-man tag a few weeks ago and broke down into them just talking all over each other and Devin leaving.
Tyler Breeze pinned Tommaso Ciampa
This match was wacky. We had some fine chain wrestling which culminated in Breeze mounting Ciampa, so Ciampa crawled around on his hands and knees like a horsey. Ciampa did a face wash, but with his knee, which was different, but cool.
Ciampa hit several running kicks to the mouth and a face buster where Breeze was hanging off the top rope. Ciampa went for a power bomb, but Breeze slipped out and hit a kick to the gut, but Ciampa cut him off and hit several more moves. Preparing for an upset Ciampa climbed the ropes, but got dropkicked when he dove off the top.
Breeze actually won with the Unprettier, which one person in the crowd yelled. I always like the Beauty Shot, but if anyone is going to use a move called the Unprettier, it’s Tyler.
– Rhyno and Baron Corbin laughed at the idea of anyone beating them. The only way I see them win is if they then run an angle with them against Cody and Dustin Rhodes afterwards.
– Next week at WWE TakeOver: Respect
Samoa Joe & Finn Balor vs Dash & Dawson in a Dusty Rhodes Classic semi-final match
Jason Jordan & Chad Gable vs Baron Corbin & Rhyno in the other Dusty Rhodes Classic semi-final match
The finals of the Dusty Rhodes Classic tag tournament
Dana Brooke vs Asuka
Apollo Crews vs Tyler Breeze
Sasha Banks vs Bayley in a 30-Minute Iron Woman Match for the Women’s Championship
-The show ended with a wonderfully done video package for the main event. It showed some never before seen backstage footage before the match at TakeOver Brooklyn. They showed 2 full minutes of highlights, which I don’t think they missed a single great moment. We saw backstage where everyone was watching and applauding them. That took us to Bayley returning to Full Sail as champion and the challenge for the Iron Man Match. The video feature ended with both girls training. Bayley heaved a medicine ball up over her head, which looked so impressive. That video package would have sold pay per view buys if this show was on ppv. That’s how good it was.
That’s it from Full Sail. Dave Meltzer will take care of live PBP duty of TakeOver: Respect, so until then, make sure to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big Takeaway: Jack Swagger beat Adam Rose and his ever-terrible new gimmick while R-Truth dismissed Heath Slater in a quick, entertaining bout. Xavier Woods is still the best thing about this show.
R-Truth beat Heath Slater (3:34)
They opened things up by exchanging wristlocks. Things quickly break down, however, in to an impromptu dance off. This is pretty much the formula for the 4-minute R-Truth match on Superstars. A quick hip toss from Truth sees him then mount Slater in the corner for punches on the second rope, but he is crotched. Slater takes over with his own punches, until a slap from Truth throws him off his balance. Truth kicks him in the guts but then runs into a scissor kick, which floors him. After stomps from Slater, he slaps on a chin lock and then covers Truth for two.
Truth then gets the heat with clotheslines and a heel kick, followed by the Lie Detector for the win. All through Slater’s offense section Woods was putting over the fact that Slater was a one-time beat the clock winner against Seth Rollins on Raw and so should be in for a title shot. When Rich Brennan was incredulous at one stage in the match, Woods just quietly remarked in mock-disgust, “there’s so much you need to learn about this industry”. He’s fast becoming very good in the role.
Jack Swagger beat Adam Rose (7:57)
My god, this Adam Rose gimmick. He came out for his usual pre-match promo, looking like he’d actually make a pretty good third wheel in The Vaudevillians on NXT, moaning about how he was going to “poop” all over the WWE Universe’s party. It would have been terrible on a really bad Indy card that had no TV. It really has no place here.
They lock up but Rose immediately goes to ropes to break off and Swagger then grabs him and hits him with a belly to back suplex. Swagger then runs into Rose’s elbow, and he slaps on a headlock. When Swagger gets out, he uses a side headlock takedown and then runs through Rose with shoulder barges and uses a huge lariat to send him over the top rope. Swagger leads the crowd in a “We the people!” as we head to a break.
Swagger is dominating as we return, punching Rose in the corner. He then tosses Rose over the top rope, but he lands on the apron, and Swagger turns round to find Rose using the top rope to choke him. Rose then takes over and lands elbows, steps on his throat and applies a sleeper hold. When Swagger gets out, Rose grabs his hair and throws him to the mat.
Rose continues to work over Swagger with kicks and punches. He lands a double knee drop and then goes back to a rear chin lock. He turns this into a sleeper and Swagger manages to use the turnbuckle to force Rose off. Swagger then gets the heat with huge clotheslines, a Swagger Bomb and then covers Rose for two. He then double legs and goes for the Patriot Lock, but gets posted.
Rose stomps his foot a la Shawn Michaels as if to set up for Sweet Chin Music. Instead of a super kick, it sets up a fairly meager low kick to take out Swagger’s left leg. Rose uses a DDT, and comes off the top rope with a big flying double axe handle to Swagger’s back. Swagger kicks out of the cover at two. Woods makes this infinitely more fun by throwing himself into the drama of it all, going crazy on commentary. Rose goes up top again but this time is caught in the Patriot Lock and he taps instantly.
– WWE Tag Team Champions New Day beat Primetime Players & Dudleys. After the match, New Day tried to put one of the Dudleys through a table, but instead Xavier ended up taking the 3D through the table.
– Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow beat Los Matadores in a quick match. The Matadores worked as heels (I don’t remember if they made a turn on television). Torito came out to help Axel & Sandow, which led to the finish.
– Chris Jericho beat Luke Harper in a good match. Jericho was super over.
– Ryback beat WWE I-C Champion Kevin Owens by DQ (eye rake). Ryback got a good crowd reaction. He laid out Owens after the match.
– WWE Divas Champion Charlotte & Becky Lynch beat the Bellas (with Fox at ringside). Bellas got the heat on Becky, then Charlotte made the comeback and won with the Figure 8. Not much to the match.
– Big Show beat Cesaro clean with a chokeslam. Better than expected.
– WWE U.S. Champion John Cena beat WWE Champion Seth Rollins with the AA in a good, long match. Both worked really hard.
